The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-04-16
Tie SETTLEMENT.

IHE SETTLEMENT.
(11) Apparently Joseph shrewdly managed
to have his fathers family located by per-
mission of the king, in district of the coun-
try adapted to their occupation and on the
border of the land where they would be apart
from the Egyptians, by whom foreign shep-
herd tribes are greatly disliked, and yet near
to himself, who may have resided either at
Memphis or Rameses, or, indeed, he may
have had residence in both cities. Accord
ingly they were assigned possession for a
dwelling place in Goshen. the best grazing
district of the country, lying at the entrance
of Egypt from Canaan. In verse II the place
of their settlement is called Rameses, proba-
bly, another and later name for the province
of Goshen, of which Rameses may have been
the chief city, or the name Of district in
which the city was located.
The land of Goshen, which was assigned
by Pharaoh to the Israelites, lay on the east
eru frontier of the Delta, along the eastern
most or Pelusiaa branch of the Nile. 1t
forms the northern slope of the Arabian
mountain chain which borders the Nile Val
lev on the east but turns off eastward, at the
apex of the Delta, toward the Gulf of Suez.
This position, between the alluyial fiat of the
Delta and the sands of the Desert, made it
peculiarly fit for pasturing the fiocks of the
new settlers Smith, History of the World.
We are not to assume that the Israelites
had sole occupancy of the land Of Goshen, or
became proprietors of the district they occu-
pied. We may assume, however, that in this
district were royal Or government lands,
where they kept the kings herds. These
lands tbs Hebrew shepherds may have been
permitted to occupy temporarily. They had
not come to dwell permanently in Egypt. 1t
was evidently their intention, when the fam
inc was over, to return to Canaan, the land
Diyinely promised to become the possession
of tbs posterity of Jacob, the seed of Abra-
ham. But for the accomplishment of the
Divine purpose longer residence was prov
identially determined. This had been pre-
dictsd by symbol in the covenant made with
Abraham (xv. 10, 14). They remained in the
land for generations, for two hundred and
fifteen years, at least, according to the Sep
tuagint, and increased from family of
seventy persons (xlvi. 27) into nation SO
numerous that they were " more and might
teen years after the settlement in Egypt, and
was buried by Joseph in the tomb Of his an
cestors at Hebron. A IS king who knew not
Joseph" came to the throne of Egypt and
subjected the Israelites to oppression and
hard servitude Exodus l. S-14), when
Moses, the man of GoD," was Divinely
raised up to lead his people from the land Of
Ill Il
inheritance. But the long sojourn in Egypt
proved a period of Divine discipline for the
children of Israel, who were thus brought
in contact with the highest civilization of the
world, and their Divinely chosen national
leader and law-giver was educated in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts vii. 22). By
the inspiration of JEHOVAH, the GoD of Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob, he founded nation
to which he gave religion that is destined to
bless all the nations of the earth.
And SO Israel abode in Egypt, and Jacob
was stranger in the land of Ham" In this
transportation of the Chosen People, the
vine was to strike its first roots. From the
same valley of the Nile, whence flowed the
culture of Greece, was to flow also the relig-
ion of Palestine. That same land of ancient
learning which, in the schools of Alexandria,
was, ages afterward, the first settled home
and shelter of the wandering Christian
Church, was also the first settled home and
shelter of the wandering Jewish nation.
Egypt was the meeting point, geographically
and historically, of the three continents of
the ancient world. 1t could not but bear its
part in the nurture of that people which was
itself TO influence and guide them all.-Stdn-
ley, "History Of the Jewish Church"
The contact with Egyptian ciyiliz alton thus
brought about was Providential. Before
their removal back to the land of promise,
they became great people, with Influences
from the Egyptian culture, some, perhaps,
deteriorating, but more developing. The
priestly order to which Joseph was ad-
nitted, and by which Moses was educated,
possessed the learning of the world in its age;
and although its culture was private, and not
impressed directly upon the masses, still
these must have been indirectly influenced
by the learning and arts whose principles
were comprehended by the higher class.
Traces of Egyptian influence may be found
in Israelite progress; but it is remarkable
how totally wanting are some Of the elements
of the Egyptian religion, in that of Moses
as an instance, the doctrine of future rewards
and punishments.--S. S. Helper, November
1880.